Antai Textile: Weaving New Opportunities Amid Market Turbulence, “Starry Sky Yarn” Leads the High-Value-Added Track
At 7:30 in the morning, the summer heat in Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu had just crept over the window sills, but the lights in the Marketing Department office of Antai Textile were already on. Li Xiong's fingertips glided over the latest acrylonitrile weekly report on the screen, his brows furrowing slightly as he studied the data—by July 10, the domestic acrylonitrile capacity utilization rate had edged up to 76.20%, with a weekly output of 83,100 tons; yet looking at the inventory data, the total of 45,800 tons had increased by 3,000 tons from the previous week. Shandong Haijiang's 130,000-ton facility had just shut down for maintenance, while Jilin Petrochemical's new 260,000-ton production line was set to start operation at the end of the month. Coupled with Lihuayi's spot price reduction to 7,900 yuan/ton, the market was like a crumpled map, with variables hidden in every crease.
“Old Huang, come to my office for a minute.” Li Xiong dialed the Production Department, and the familiar voice of Factory Director Huang came through the receiver, accompanied by the background hum of workshop machines: “I just finished inspecting the dyeing line and was about to check today's production schedule.”
Half an hour later, Factory Director Huang sat down with a notebook dotted with bits of cotton lint. The open page was densely filled with notes on raw material consumption for each production line: “The acrylic top workshop just received a rush order from a Zhejiang customer yesterday—200 tons of light purple acrylic tops for autumn children's clothing. But regarding the acrylonitrile price fluctuations you mentioned last time, should we adjust our raw material reserves?”
Li Xiong pushed over the printed acrylonitrile market update: “Look at this contradiction—Shandong Haijiang's 10-day maintenance will tighten short-term supply, but Jilin Petrochemical's new 260,000-ton line starting at the end of the month will only make future raw material supply more abundant. Now inventory is rising again, and Lihuayi has started cutting prices. When downstream customers inquired about prices these two days, they immediately asked, ‘Can you follow the raw material price?’” He paused, pointing to the “Fancy Yarn” column in the notebook, “Our ‘Starry Sky Yarn’ secured three intent orders at the Canton Fair last week. The customers are cross-border e-commerce sellers, specifically asking for this acrylic fancy yarn with sequins, saying that demand for party wear in the European and American markets has risen by 30% in the second half of the year. For such high-value-added products, customers are less price-sensitive, which can just hedge against the risk of raw material fluctuations.”
Factory Director Huang nodded, tapping the “Flexible Production Line” note with his fingertip: “Got it. The German intelligent control system we just commissioned last week can reduce the mold change time from regular acrylic yarn to fancy yarn to 2 hours, half the previous time. I’ll arrange for 20% of the regular acrylic yarn production capacity for today and tomorrow to be allocated to ‘Starry Sky Yarn’. For the raw material warehouse, tell the Purchasing Department to lock in 3,000 tons of acrylonitrile at the current price first, and replenish the rest before Jilin Petrochemical's new line starts operation—save where we can.”
Sunlight outside the window climbed up the honor wall behind them. Next to the black-and-white photo from the factory's founding in 1993 hung a plaque reading “National High-Tech Enterprise”, alongside a patent certificate for the “Low Liquor Ratio Dyeing Process” jointly developed with Donghua University—this technology makes the color fastness of Antai's colored acrylic tops 2 grades higher than the industry average, saves 30% water, and last year even won the Annual Supplier Award from a leading domestic sportswear brand.
“Oh, right,” Li Xiong suddenly remembered, “The tariff negotiations in the US will have results at the end of the month. Our acrylic yarn exports to the West Coast account for 15%, so we need to prepare contingency plans in advance. Can the Production Department increase the capacity for 16-count and 21-count high-count acrylic yarn? Demand for this type of yarn is stable in the high-end home textile market, and even if tariffs change, the profit margin can withstand it.”
Factory Director Huang quickly noted this down in his notebook: “No problem. The compact spinning equipment in the high-count yarn workshop was maintained last month, and the current daily capacity is 8 tons—an increase of 10% is manageable. Moreover, we draw our own acrylic tops and then spin the yarn, covering the entire process from raw materials to finished products, which is 5% lower in cost than competitors who outsource tops. We have that confidence.”
As they were talking, Xiao Zhang from the Marketing Department knocked and entered, handing over a customer feedback form: “The Zhejiang children's clothing factory said our light purple acrylic tops have a truer color than the sample and asked if we can cooperate long-term, requiring a fixed 500 tons per month.”
Li Xiong and Factory Director Huang exchanged a smile. Over more than 30 years, from initial single acrylic yarn production to now a full range of products including acrylic tops, colored acrylic tops, and fancy yarns, Antai Textile has long been accustomed to adjusting its course amid market storms. Like the spinning spindles rotating in the workshop at this moment, no matter how the raw material market fluctuates, it can always weave fine yet tough textures—that is the adherence of veteran textile people to “stability” and their acumen for “change” on new tracks.
“Tell the Purchasing Department to keep a close eye on the commissioning progress of Jilin Petrochemical,” Li Xiong stood up. Sunlight outside the window shone directly on the “1993-2025” factory anniversary countdown board. “Tell Factory Director Huang that there's a production scheduling meeting at 3 p.m. We'll refine the production schedule for the second half of the month—we need to both stabilize old customers and seize new opportunities like ‘Starry Sky Yarn’.”
In the corridor, young employees hurried past carrying freshly printed product brochures. The slogan on the cover—“Antai Textile: Weaving Market Warmth with a Single Thread”—fluttered gently in the July breeze.